New PawSox announcer Levering was childhood friend of Pedroia

Thursday

Jeff Levering will be the voice of all 144 PawSox games this season on WHJJ radio and the 12-station PawSox network.

PAWTUCKET — The Pawtucket Red Sox are moving in a new direction with their broadcast team this year. They have hired a real baseball player to be their lead announcer.

Jeff Levering, who was the designated hitter on the 2003 Chapman University (of California) Division III national championship team, will be the voice of all 144 PawSox games this season on WHJJ radio and the 12-station PawSox network.

“When I was growing up, I was pretty serious about wanting to play Major League baseball. I got to play at a pretty elite level,” Levering said.

As a 15-year-old in California, he played on an AAU team called the Capitol City Bombers. The team reached the national championship in Tennessee and finished in the top four featuring a lineup that had Levering and a kid named Dustin Pedroia hitting back-to-back.

“I would hit second or third and Dustin would hit third or fourth, depending on who was pitching,” Levering recalled.

Levering and Pedroia developed a friendship that lasts to this day.

“When I was interviewing for the job in Pawtucket, I showed them my driver’s license,” Levering said. “When we were at the AAU Tournament, Dustin and I and one other kid decided to bleach our hair. I did his, he did mine. I turned 16 a couple days later so when I went to get my driver’s license my hair was still bleached.” There was only one minor problem that anyone can still see on Levering’s license.

“It was supposed to be blonde, but it came out more like orange,” he said. “Dustin says to this day that the bleach is the reason his hair fell out.”

While Pedroia went on to Arizona State, Levering chose Chapman University, in part because it was a national Division III power and in part because it has a strong journalism program.

In 2003, Levering was Chapman’s starting designated hitter. The team won the national championship. It was a truly enjoyable time, he said.

“By the time I was there, I realized that being 5-feet-10 and not being a very good fielder, I wasn’t going to make it to the majors,” he said. He did get to be on a big-league field one time. The Angels honored his team in pregame ceremonies.

“They were playing the Phillies in an interleague game,” Levering said. “I was walking around and I ran into Jim Thome in the dugout and started talking to him. He was really nice. He told me to appreciate it because not everyone gets to play in a College World Series. That really stuck with me.”

Levering received a degree in broadcast journalism. His first job was as a field reporter and associate producer for Fox Sports West. He spent 2007-09 as director of broadcasting and media relations for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, the Angels High-A affiliate in the California League, then spent the last three years as the voice of the Springfield, Mo., Cardinals, in the Double-A Texas League. That team won its first-ever Texas League title last season.

Levering was selected from among 150 applicants for the Pawtucket job. He calls it “humbling” to be selected to take over a position with a history of producing talent that has gone on to the majors, the latest being Aaron Goldsmith, who was with Pawtucket for only one season before being hired by Seattle.

Blessed with a strong, deep voice, Levering has an easy going manner and conversational style. He tries to be that way when doing his work.

“I try to go about it like I would if I was playing,” he said. “I like to watch batting practice behind the cage. I like to watch bullpen sessions and strike up conversations with the guys, find little tidbits about them that I can relate to our listeners and develop friendships with the guys. If you do that, they’re more apt to talk to you. You get more fun stories.

“I think it’s fun when you are calling a game to have a genuine interest in the players, a rooting interest,” he said. “I don’t think that hurts at all. That’s what I did in Springfield. It meant a lot to me that when I got the (Pawtucket job) some of the players tweeted their congratulations for me and even called me. I hope to do the same thing in Pawtucket.”

He is spending the weekend making the drive from Missouri to Rhode Island and will begin work at McCoy Stadium on Monday. No one has to tell him he’s a lucky guy.

“I know it’s a cliché, but I really mean it. I don’t feel like I’ve worked a day in my life,” he said. “I get to go to games, meet the players and enjoy everything that goes on. I look forward to doing it in Pawtucket.”

The PawSox expect to name their second announcer next week.

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